1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computers and computer peripheral devices and, more specifically, to a writing device which functions as a tablet for temporarily bookmarking information.
2. Description of Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1 (Prior Art), internet access software—commonly known as a “web browser” (or more simple “browser”)—includes a built-in “bookmarking” function. (“Internet” is used herein as a generic term for a collection of distributed, interconnected networks (ARPANET, DARPANET, World Wide Web, or the like) that are linked together by a set of industry standard protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, UDP, and the like) to form a global, distributed network; it is also used as generic for proprietary intranets.) On the screen view 100, there is a drop-down window(s) feature 101 accessed by clicking on the “Bookmarks” iconic virtual button 103. This function is designed for the end-user's semipermanent storage of web site addresses (known a Uniform Resource Locators (URL or URI or the like)). A user can add bookmarks to specific site page 105 currently in view by clicking on the “Bookmarks” virtual button 103, then clicking on the “Add Bookmark” virtual button 107 at the top of the drop-down list 101, whereby the current web site address, or a synonym associated therewith, is added to the list bottom 111. URLs saved in this manner can be repeatedly referenced in the current or future on-line sessions until specifically deleted by the user using a provided “Edit Bookmarks” feature.
An alternative to bookmarking is to open multiple windows, one for each site of interest, and to stack or tile the windows, shuffling between them as the user's current interest dictates. Multiple windowing is of course limited by the video screen dimensions.
One inherent problem with the browser's bookmarking system is that the length of the list soon exceeds the common screen height, requiring either sub-listing horizontally using virtual folders 109 which open further lists or scrolling the screen to find the particular bookmark of current interest. Another alternative to semipermanent browser bookmarking is to write the URL on a piece of paper and re-enter the address each time the site is to be visited; this is of course time consuming and subject to the frustrations attendant with keeping the paper, losing the paper, and repeating the search which discovered the site-of-interest in the first instance, if possible. Thus, there is a need for a system for creating temporary bookmarks for use only during a current on-line session.
Also, there is known in the art electronic devices compatible with handwriting. Examples of inventions assigned to the common assignee, incorporated herein by reference, include the following. U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,499 by Flickinger, et al. for an ELECTRONIC BOARD TO STORE AND TRANSFER INFORMATION describes a pen and a board, which has a sensing mechanism, a memory device and a communication link. When the pen imprints symbols to the board, the symbols are not concurrently electronically displayed; but, the symbols are detected by the sensing mechanism, stored in the memory device, and can later be transferred to an electronic device through the communication link. U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,591 by Hull et al. for SCRIBBLE MATCHING describes methods for searching samples of electronic ink without having first to translate the ink into ASCII text. In pen-based computer devices, the identification and encoding of velocity minima in the input scribble is provided. Three scribble matching algorithms are described—a syntactic matcher, a word matcher, and an elastic matcher. The syntactic matcher encodes the input scribble according to the shape of the scribble in the region of the velocity minima. The word matcher encodes the input scribble according to the heights of the velocity minima from a reference line, using a continuous height encoding scheme. The elastic matcher encodes the input scribble according to a classification of the velocity minima and intermediate points. The use of velocity minima in the encoding of scribble input provides a stable set of points and leads to improved performance in comparison with known scribble matching methods. U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,490 by Leichner et al. for a HANDHELD WRITING DEVICE AND RELATED DATA ENTRY SYSTEM describes a digital electronic clipboard used to mount pages or forms utilized in forms processing application, such as inventory tracking. A stylus having a writing tip at one end of the stylus and a bar code scanning mechanism at another end of the stylus is used to enter data on the pages or forms and scan bar codes appearing on the pages or forms themselves, or on a separate item to be associated with the form. The system detects whether bar code data or stylus position data is being generated and causes its CPU (central processing unit) to responsively process entered data.
Ink writing tablets associated with computing devices are also commercially available: e.g., the CrossPad™ digital notepad series by A. T. Cross Company of Lincoln, R.I.; the IBM™ ThinkPad™ TransNote™ laptop computer bundled with Ink Manager software; the Seiko Instruments SmartPad™ which works with a Palm Organizer personal digital assistant; and the Wacom™ Graphire tablet and inking pen (for signature capture, recognition and verification).
There is a need for a method of using ink writing tablets to facilitate computer search result indexing, adaptable to use with the Internet and other computerized functions.